Silver Linings and Serendipity (Part 3 of ?)

The five years I spent helping to launch this new cross-disability advocacy organization were amazing and intense -- I learned so much (sometimes as the result of serious mistakes I made); met incredible people who continue to inspire and humble me; benefited from the guidance of several very wise, accomplished women; and truly contributed to improving the quality of life for people with all types of disabilities.

As had already happened so many times in my life, I found myself in the right place at the right time and benefited greatly from it.  My tenure as the executive director of this organization coincided with the heyday of Dr. Jack.  I was chosen to represent my organization and the disability community on the Michigan Commission on Death and Dying, which was created by the state legislature for the purpose of making policy recommendations about the issue of physician-assisted suicide, and co-authored the Commission‘s subcommittee report on procedural safeguards.  (The Procedural Safeguards proposal for decriminalizing assisted suicide received the majority of votes cast, although not a majority vote from the 22 members of the Commission.)  Several years later, I was one of 300 people with disabilities from across the country selected to participate in the National Council on Disabilities Summit on Disability Policy to help develop recommendations on how to change national health care policies to better meet the needs of individuals with disabilities.   My most enduring achievement came as one of the leaders of the coalition that lobbied for the introduction and passage of Michigan’s Wheelchair Lemon Law.

Interestingly enough, the experience during that time that had the greatest influence on my future didn’t take place on the job.  In early 1995, I developed a severe case of pneumonia and was off work for more than a month.  While out sick, I was inspired to log on for the first time to the still relatively new World Wide Web after reading article in “Mother Jones” magazine about the best sites online.  After my first hour of surfing, I was hooked, and I spent the remainder of my recovery time teaching myself HTML and building my first web site (a one page monstrosity loaded with links, graphics, and an appalling amount of annoying, blinking text).  I had no idea at the time just how beneficial this early exposure to this new online world would be.

After five years at the head of this small advocacy organization, the ever present stress from raising enough money to keep the staff paid and the programs running was taking its toll on my mental and physical health.  I missed being directly being involved in program work -- I wanted to get back to creating and implementing advocacy strategies and working on the front lines to get people to take action on the issues that directly affect their lives.  So when a prominent national consumer health care advocacy organization offered me a job working with state groups to improve their advocacy skills and strategies, I seized the opportunity and moved to Washington DC.

Silver Linings and Serendipity (Part 2 of ?)

One of my mentors at DMB and my roommate were both involved with an organization call The Michigan Citizen’s Lobby, which was an affiliate of Citizen Action. My work with the state student association got me involved with the national student association, which used a grassroots organizing strategy tool developed by -- you guessed it -- Citizen Action. The state student association gave me real practical experience with issue advocacy, and my connection with the folks at Citizen Action showed me that political organizing was a legitimate career choice.

It wasn’t long after that when my daytime role as mild-mannered number cruncher and my alter ego as a political activist clashed -- I took a day off of work to lead and speak at a state student association rally on the steps of the state capitol. When my picture made the newspapers the next day, my boss at DMB told me I needed to decide whether I wanted to work on the inside of the government, or on the outside.

That’s when everything changed. I just couldn’t see myself being happy making a career out of being a public administrator if it meant giving up my right to speak out, to do more than just vote to shape public policy and advance the causes in which I believe. It was at that moment that I didn’t just want to be on the outside, I needed to be on the outside. And with a little help from my mentor, I landed my first paid gig as a full-time activist and grassroots organizer and moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

At that first job, I worked mostly on single payer health care and environmental issues. That work, along with the help of another incredible mentor, led to an appointment by the Governor of Pennsylvania to the Coalition of Northeastern Governors’ Source Reduction Council, where I helped develop and promote model legislation to reduce the use of toxic heavy metal in packaging and other environmental issues. But far and away the greatest opportunity afforded me by that job was going through an intensive training by the Midwest Academy’s Steve Max on organizing for social change (also the title of their bestselling organizer's manual).

After a few years in Pittsburgh, I got homesick for Michigan and started looking for a way to move back. Some long-time activists in the disability community there had received funding to launch a cross-disability (physical, mental, and psychiatric) advocacy organization, and flew me up to interview for the job of Executive Director. I was their first choice and was offered the job but turned them down, a decision I quickly came to regret when, only two weeks later, the conditions at my job in Pittsburgh took a huge turn for the worse. I was miserable, and I wondered out loud what the odds were that the person who accepted that job would suddenly drop dead so I could have a second chance at it.

Well, he didn’t drop dead, but he did decide to leave for a higher paying position only six weeks after starting work. Fortunately for me, one of the board members who interviewed me suggested they call me back to see if I’d change my mind. (Already had.) I couldn’t imagine that this could get any better, but it did -- in an attempt to convince that guy to stay on, the board offered him a 25 percent increase in pay and an additional week of paid vacation, and felt it was only fair to offer me the same(!) plus $500 to help defray the cost of my move, further proving that I am one of the luckiest people on earth. So back to Lansing I went.

Silver Linings and Serendipity (Part 1 of ?)

I am a true believer in the old adage that every black cloud has a silver lining.  The bigger the cloud, the bigger the lining.  I made a resolution this year to never lose sight of that.  This is the (somewhat long) story of how the tumor that was supposed to kill me instead led me live a most extraordinary and wonderful life.

In order to get at the spinal cord and remove the tumor, my surgeons first had to remove the backs of the ten vertebrae where the tumor was growing.  (This procedure is called a laminectomy.)  The laminectomies and radiation treatments I had after the first tumor excision weakened my spinal column and caused me to develop a severe (90 degree) front to back curvature of my neck and upper back.  The operation to stabilize the curvature and associated complications caused a four year gap between my junior and senior years of college. 

By the time I went back to school, the cost of tuition was way up and my eligibility for financial aid was way down.  My frustration with and anger about this led me to get involved in student politics at the university level.  I was elected Student Government (SG) Treasurer and during my term in office, I became active in the state student association.  At the end of my term as SG Treasurer, I ran for SG President.  I lost that election, but one week later was elected President of the state student association.

At the same time, the Governor of Michigan launched an Executive Intern Program.  The students chosen would spend ten weeks working directly with one of the members of the Governor’s Cabinet during the day and attending special classes with political leaders at night.  I beat out over 500 other applicants for one of these 22 full-time, paid positions and moved that summer to the state capital, Lansing, to work with the director of Michigan‘s Department of Management and Budget (DMB). 

The internship was an amazing opportunity.  Not only did it provide me with the opportunity to get a first class education is my first love, state politics, being in Lansing full time allowed me to immerse myself in the state student association, the office of which was located just down the street from the Capitol Building.  I really didn’t want my time in Lansing to end.  Luckily for me, it didn’t have to.  A permanent employee at the DMB decided to extended her leave of absence, and my bosses there offered me the chance to stay on.  Since the six credits I could get for the experience would give me enough to finish my degree in Public Administration and graduate, I jumped at the chance and made the move to Lansing permanent.

And then, serendipity.